Sheet binding means



March 20, 1945 F. J. PERRY. SR

' SHEET BINDING MEANS Filed Jan. 15, 1944 INVENTOR.

I ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 20, 1945 SHEET BINDING MEANS Frederick J. rent, sr., NorthArlington, N. J. Application January 15, 1944, Serial No. 518,369

2 Claims. "((1281921) This invention relates to improvements in sheetbinding means; andthe invention has reference,

more particularly, to a novel construction of binding' device especiallyuseful for binding together the cover and loose inner leaves of sheetmusic. The invention has for an object to provide a novel binding devicecomprising a series of independent leaf embracing and holding elements,each longitudinally foldedupon itself to provide a tubular hinge barrel,said elements being longitudinally aligned, end to end, along a commonhinge pin element, which extends throughth'eir hinge barrels, wherebyouterand inner leaves or sheets may be'embraced by andsecured' betweenthe sides of selected holding elements so as tobe' capable of beingindependently turned about the hinge p-in element, and yet securelyconnected or bound together against separation'one from another withrisk of. loss or misplacement from their properly associatedrelationship.

The invention has for another object to'provide a binding device of thekind above referred to in which the leaf embracing and holding elementsare made of rigidulous sheet material, such e. g. as thin sheetCelluloid or the-like, and in which the hinge pin element is made of asome what resilient material, such e. g. as textile or other cord whichhas been stiffened by a suitable sizingso as to be sufiiciently flexiblewithout being flimsy, whereby the same is not easily subject topermanent distortion from a normal. straight condition; means to beprovided in con nection with terminal members of the leaf embracingandholding elements for retainingthe hinge pin element againstdisplacement fromoperative association with the, series of leafembracing and holding elements served thereby.

Other objects of this invention. not at this time more particularlyenumerated, will be understood fromv the following detailed descriptionof the same.

An illustrative embodiment of the novel sheet binding means according tothis invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front face view of a piece of sheet music the outer andinner leaves of which have been hingedly bound together by thenovel-binding means of this invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary rear faceview of the same; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary face view of the sheet musicwith its front cover leaf opened and its inner leaf exposed; Fig. 4 is afragmentary face view of the opened sheet music showing its inner leafturned; and

the terminal members of the leaf embracing and ment.

holding elements of the binding means, and the means provided inconnection therewith for retaining thehinge pin element againstdisplace- Similar characters of reference are employed in the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawing, the illustrative embodiment of the sheetbinding means is shown as and I1.

. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing operatively appliedto a piece of sheet music comprising a front leaf or sheet I0, an innerleaf or sheet I l and a back leaf or sheet l2.

The sheet binding means comprises, in the i1- lustrative form thereof asshown, terminal leaf embracing and holding elements l5, and intermediate" leaf embracing andholding elements l6 Each leaf embracing andholding element comprises a bifurcate structure formed by a tubularhinge barrel portion l8 and a pair of wing sections l9 extendingtherefrom. Each such embracing and holding element is made of rigiduloussheet material, such e. g. as thin sheet Celluloid or the like, whichcan beshaped and I set to provide the tubular hinge barrelportion l8.

Said leaf embracing and holding elements l5, l6 and I! arelongitudinally aligned, end to end, upon and along a common hinge pinelement 20. disposed to extend through their hinge barrel 1 portions I8, whereby the leaf embracing and holding elements l5. l6 and, -l 1. mayfreely turn about said hinge pin element 20 as an axis. The hinge pinelement 20is of somewhat less length than the totallength of the end toend aligned leaf embracing and holding elements, and to retain saidhinge pin element against longitudinal dis placement from its operativeassembled relation to said leaf embracing and holding elements, theouter ends of the barrel portions of the terminal leaf embracing andholding elements, are pinched and set together to provide a barrelpassage closure portion 2|, by which the respective ends of the hingepin element 20 is stopped so as to arrest longitudinal shiftingdisplacement thereof.

The hinge pin element 20 is of rod-like form and is made of a somewhatresilient or springy non-metallic material. For example, the same maycomprise a non-metallic cord or rod of inherently resilient material, ora textile cord which has been stiffened by a suitable sizing substanceso as. to be sufficiently flexible without being flimsy. A resilientcord or rod of such characteristic is desirable so that it may flexwithout being subject to permanent bending or distortion from its normalstraight condition, and consequently is not subject to risk of bendingout of shape so sheet music to be bound are separated, whereupon f saidfront sheet ill is inserted between the wing sections IQ of therespective terminal leaf embracing and holding elements l5, and theinner faces of said wing sections are adhered by a suitable adhesive tosaid front sheet Ill. The back sheet I2 is then inserted between thewing sec'-" tions IQ of the respective leaf embracing-and holdingelements It next adjacent to the terminal elements !5, and the innerfaces of said wing sections are likewise adhered by a suitable adhesiveto said back sheet [2. Finally the intermediateor inner sheet H isinserted between the wing sections IQ of the middle or-remainingleafembracing and holding element H, and, in like manner said wingsections are adhered by a suitable adhesive to said inner sheet H.

The adhesive employed to secure the music sheets to and between thewings IQ of the holding elements may be applied at the time of carryingout the binding operation,cr,'if desired, the inner faces of said wings19 may be provided with a dry adhesive coating ,22 (see-Fig. '5) whichcan be eral leaves or pages may be easily, freely and independentlyturned about a common hinge axis. The hinge pin element being resilient,will not take a permanent bend so as to either distort the plane of theleaves or pages, or obstruct the free swinging turning thereof, and yet,since the hinge pin element extends substantially throughout the lengthof the sheet music, the latter cannot be accidentally folded or crumpledtransversely, and consequently is kept in good condition and its usefulperiod of life is therefore substantially prolonged.

I am aware that some changes could be made in the above describedconstructions without departing from the scope of this invention asdelined by the following claims. It is therefore intended that allmatter contained in the foremoistened for use at the time of performanceof the binding operation.

Although the double wing form of the holding elements shown anddescribed is preferable, it

will be understood that one of the Wings may beomitted if desired andbut a single wing provided for adherence to the leaves or sheets to bebound. It will also be understood that the order in which the holdingelements are adhered to the successive leaves'or sheets to be bound maybe varied from that above described as may be deemed most expedient tothe user of the binding device; furthermore, it will also be clear thatthe number and length sizes of the holding elements may also be variedwithin reasonable limits, and

according to the total number of leaves or sheets to be accommodated.For the ordinary three leaf form of sheet music the described number andrelative arrangement, of holding elements will probably be found themost satisfactory.

The novel binding means according to this ingoing description or shownin the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative andnot in a limiting sense,

I claim 1. Sheet binding means comprising a series of independent leafholding elements arranged end to end, each holding element being formedfrom rigidulous sheet material to provide a longitudiholding elementshinged thereon.

All

2. Sheet binding means comprising a series of independent leaf holdingelements arranged end to end, each holding element comprising a body ofsheet material having a longitudinal tubular hinge barrel integraltherewith, interior marginal portions of successive leaves to be boundbeing secured to the bodies of selected holding elements, a hinge pinelement of resilient material common to and extending through alignedhinge barrels of the holding elementswhereby the latter may turnindependently thereon, and the terminally disposed holding elementshaving means to close outer end portions of their hing'e barrels againstlongitudinal displacement of the hinge pin element relative to theseries of holding elements hinged thereon.

FREDERICK J. PERRY, SR.

